Monday, November 17, 2008

Monday's Project: A WWII U.S. Entrenching Tool

Meant to build this over the weekend, but I decided to make a revolver instead. The U.S. Military Entrenchment Tool, better known to us as a "shovel", is one of my favorite melee weapons in Team Fortress 2. It's so silly, is wielded by one of the slowest classes, and plain old embarassing to see people get taken out by it.

The shovel was made from 110lb cardstock, a bamboo stick and one Magic: the Gathering card.

The shovel folds up from a bludgeoner's length to a slightly inconvenient length for "concealed carry". Why a shovel needs to be folded for transport is beyond me. It's still a big shovel but now with a wobbly head. Guess soldiers back then needed to have their shovels with them at all times in a convenient bag. But it's the modern era without wars, so why does Hotaru need a shovel?

Some time during your life, you may have intruders in your home, rummaging through your things. If you happen to come home when they're still there, you may need to fend off the invaders with whatever you have handy. And sometimes, the closest thing to use is your trusty shovel.

Here, we can see the shovel's effectiveness. The head has been extended fully, allowing the more massive head to be near the end of the moment arm. Other effective dispatching techniques involve the "Roman Shovel Jab" and "Divine Shovel Swing From the Heavens" and "Pound the Victim on the Head Repeatedly but Ineffectively with Light Taps". And most of all, as you can see by the surprised Sniper and Spy, no one expects to be beaten to death by the silent and not so swift shovel.

And as an added bonus, your entrenchment tool can be used for its primary purpose to dispose of the subjects/evidence.

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